John Janvier Black papers

John Janvier Black, United States surgeon and resident physician to Blockley Hospital, was born in Delaware City, Delaware, November 6, 1837, the son of Charles H. Black and Anne Janvier Black. He was president of the Delaware Insane Asylum and helped greatly in the formation of the Delaware State Hospital. The John Janvier Black papers consist of 45 physician's visiting lists, a notebook of hospital observations, a personal diary, and two notebooks belonging to unidentified persons. In addition to information related to his practice, Black's visiting lists contain recipes, notes on his fruit orchards, and reports of local Delaware events. Of particular interest are Black's description of the Old Lyle House in New Castle (1885), and his reports on the opening days of the New Castle-Wilmington Electric Railway (March 18, 1897) and the New Castle-Delaware City Electric Railroad (August 30, 1900). Also of interest is Black's visiting list from 1895, in which he calculates the national debt of the United States and mentions that President Cleveland was issuing bonds to protect the country's gold reserves. Additionally, two unidentified notebooks that did not belong to Black are also included in the collection. One of the notebooks is a personal diary for the year 1864. In the first part of the year, the author is stationed in the army, inspecting weapons, reviewing regiments, and preparing ordnance accounts. In the latter half of the diary the author returns home to Chester, Pennsylvania, to live with his wife, Mary. The second notebook, from 1904, is a visiting list from another doctor. This notebook contains patients' names, their ailments, and how they were treated; also included is the doctor's cash account and total earnings for the year.